We study science because we want to know how He created this world. We study history because we want to know how He interacts with people and does what He does. We play music because we want to worship Him in a way that is worthy. We study cultures because we want to gain a better understanding of how sin and grace plays a part in people groups. We study math because we are astounded at the precision of His prophecies and the precision that it took to hang the earth in just the right spot for us to survive. We study language so that we can be sure as to what He has to say. We write because the words out of our mouth are too easy to say and do not serve Him the glory that He deserves. We read because it is the only way to learn more about all of these things. We study the Bible because His grace, mercy, truth, righteousness, justice, laws, precepts, glory, sovereignty, and omnipotence are the only things that create a desire to study all of the things of Him. Wisdom is from the Lord and the reading of His Holy Word. The Bible has something to say about everything , but you must read it first to find out!
Monday, May 16, 2011
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
God's Love
How do you show God’s love? And moreover what is God’s love? These two questions are thought provoking and could be the subject of exhaustive lifetime research. I am not going to attempt to dive into the depths of this subject, nor am I capable of doing so. However, these two questions are at the core of my day yesterday. Before, I get into yesterday’s events let me elaborate on some background information that will be review if you have read one of my posts before, but it bears mentioning for clarification purposes. In John chapter 15 Jesus repeatedly explains to His disciples that if they love Him they will keep his commandments or abide in Him. This illustrates that if anyone does not obey the word of God then he does not love God and therefore has no capacity to love others as Christ loves. (I am making a very brief statement of what John 15 means as to not get off topic, feel free to read it on your own for a more in depth analysis.) I have realized this truth profoundly over the last 6 years of my Christian walk. I have come to understand that truth based upon the depravity of my human condition before grace saved me. I have learned it doctrinally and taken that to heart by the conviction of the Holy Spirit for my sin. It is clear to me now that love is not some emotional response to tragedy or sending money to someone in need. Although these things are a part of love, but are not exclusive to love as obedience is. You can be touched by something based upon circumstances and have no love for those effected by the circumstances. Moreover you can be moved emotionally but it will not sustain you to make the effort necessary to display God’s perfect love over the long haul. That perfect love must be sourced in the Holy Spirit ministering God’s truth into your life. Now that we have established that obedience to the Lord IS how you love God, until today I did not understand WHY obedience to the Lord is how you show God’s love. Keep this statement in mind and all of this will make sense at the end of this post.
The beginning of this illumination started with a comment I heard on talk radio today. The tax returns of President Obama and Vice President Biden were made public. According to this source Barack Obama made about $1.7 million this year and Joe Biden made around $370,000 and the only reported donations between the two was $5100 by Joe Biden. I’m not saying that our President did not give any money away, but it was not reported as to how much. (For the record I am sure that he gave something I just don’t know how much.) I couldn’t help but think about how these people talk about helping the people and have not done very much financially with all they have at their disposal. Due to my previous paragraph, you can see that I think that giving some money out of your abundance might be the easiest way to help people. Far easier then taking an actual interest in others lives and providing daily needs that are at the very least an inconvenience to you and at the most downright difficult on you. So I guess the Lord was preparing my heart for what was to come in my day, by being disgruntled as to the lack of compassion by those that claim to be kings of compassion! I did not know what the rest of my day would entail, but I know now that the Lord was preparing my heart for service by stirring my soul a little bit. Later on yesterday I drove by a family of three walking down the road outside where I live. This road has no sidewalks and it is obvious that they were not walking for exercise. I had seen these people before while I myself was walking on that same road (and no it was not for exercise.) So now that I have a van to drive I decided to ask if they needed a ride and they gladly said yes. They said they were only going down the street so that she could apply for a job. I did not know where they were living and I must admit they had a little bit of a smell to them and based upon a couple of other observations it is a safe bet that there is quite a story about this family and it is probably not all that pretty. When we reached our destination I asked if they went to church and they said it had been awhile, when I asked if they were Christians they said yes. I don’t know them well enough to gauge whether that is true or not, but for now I will take them at their word in regards to their Christianity. I gave them my phone number and email address and offered a ride from time to time and asked if they would like to go to church with my family. They seemed excited about the idea maybe a little too excited because they wanted to know how far I would take them if they called me. So this could be something that is more involved then just a ride to the store and a trip to church, but we will have to see.
Here is my point to all of this. I have done these kinds of things before. My wife and I had a homeless guy that I actually got to know pretty well sleep at my house from time to time (his name was Jeremy). I am not pointing this out to make myself look noble, but it is important for my point. Anyway, through my own life, other people’s lives like these folks and the Holy Bible I have seen the condition of mankind and it is not a good one. It is also true that these problems of sin are not solved easily and sometimes they are not solved at all. You never know if what you do or say will be a part with the Holy Spirit to lead to salvation and a regenerative life. I am sure people had these questions while offering their helping hands towards me years ago as well. The more you are encountered with God’s Holy Word and the depravity of man the more wise you get. However, that wisdom also leads to spiritual eyes being opened as to what the magnitude of sin is and How Holy God is in relation to us, and to be frank that can be depressing at times. In a way, the more I see the sin and pain in other people’s lives the harder it is to keep reaching out. Honestly, because it does not always work out that well. As a matter of fact there are going to be frequent times when you as a Christian get taken advantage of for your kindness. All of this can lead one to not want to help everyone. It would seem to be logical that the more you invest in the sinful broken lives of others the more pain and affliction you decide to heap upon yourself. The truth is that pain and affliction is probably what you will see a lot of if you decide to obey the Lord and administer His love. Jesus was the ultimate example of being afflicted for those that did not and could not love Him, that being us sinful humans. The Lord is the originator of love and He is capable of loving us despite what we do, but we are not capable. Therefore, since loving as Christ loved means a significant amount of pain and affliction in our lives and that we are not capable of sustaining this over a lifetime then I guess we should not help others beyond a couple dollars or a ride home. Based on this information that would seem logical that you keep away from all of those that are at the bottom of society. After all you want to be happy and content, right?
So you’re probably wondering what my illumination is out of all of this. Remember when I said that until today I did not understand WHY obedience meant that you loved God? Well here it is. If we are incapable of love in and of ourselves and our desires are for ourselves then we as people would never reach out to sinners. At least not beyond something that is easy and convenient. If we are selfish and not selfless by nature if it does not yield enough results day in and day out eventually we will stop doing it. Our human nature will not allow us to love without being loved back, only God’s nature allows for that. So how can you attain that nature by any other means then by abiding and obeying in the one that has the qualifications for eternal love. The answer is that you can’t! Therefore realizing that you are incapable of love actually leads to love. Emotion will fade and past frustrations will keep you from stopping to help, but obedience will allow you to love even when you know how hard it is going to be to help that person. This is not because you want to help others. Nor is it because you are a good person by your own merit and now enjoy the turmoil of other peoples lives. You will help ONLY because you have to! The reason you HAVE TO is that you are forever a bondservant of Jesus Christ and you cannot disobey him because it would hurt too much. As a result that person gets HIS LOVE NOT YOURS and it never fails! Now I understand the whole of why we must obey. This explanation may offend some who actually believe that there goodness is something to be admired. It may also offend those who believe they have arrived spiritually at a place where they have received the fullness of His love and no longer need anymore. Some may think that those emotional heart strings that get pulled from time to time are the ultimate indicator of God’s sustaining love in their lives. None of these things are true when placed against the truth of scripture and now I know why. You don’t get the why question answered by the Lord very often so I am greatly blessed to write this to you, until next time God bless.
Saturday, March 26, 2011
Confession
Well I think I am going to take a break from the teaching mode and write about some other things. I do however have a confession to make. I found out that in my “Knowing God” post I made an error in something I wrote, I have since corrected it on my post. Although it was not an error of heresy, I was convicted to do a little bit better job in checking out what I write. For those of you wondering it was a statement about me not holding the view that one of the reasons Abraham was willing to sacrifice Isaac because he believed that God could raise him from the dead. Well, I was reading Hebrews yesterday and as it turns out that was probably one of the reasons for the Abraham’s willingness to take that step of faith. Although this did not change the content of my article, I felt the obligation to point out my error. Sorry I will do a better job in the future.
All that being said I think I am just going to write about some opinions and issues that I have had lately. I have recently found out that youtube.com can be very educational. I found full length sermons and old clips of political figures, (which is great because you can look back and hold them to what they say!). You can even take a stroll down memory lane be checking out some old 1980’s rock videos, ok that part is neither spiritual or educational, but I must admit I still like all that big hair guitar rock. I did however find something that troubled me. While I was searching out information about some good Bible teaching I ran across some that was not so good. I expected to find that, but what I didn’t expect to find is Bible teachers blasting each other about who is going to heaven and who is preaching heresy. Now I have my opinions about a couple of the big name mega church leaders. Therefore I did agree with some of the analysis about heretical statements coming from one or two of these guys. I was however more then a little discouraged by this, because of the volume of vitriol that some preachers would spew out towards others. I even found one guy lambasting Charles Spurgeon (Pastor from England that preached from around 1850 to the turn of the century.) I couldn’t believe I found that one but I guess you can’t please everyone! I found myself having the attitudes of judgment that I was seeing from some of these guys. I was convicted by the Holy Spirit about my short comings when it comes to compassion sometimes in my attempt to be right. Now for those that have read some of my stuff I am not someone who is loose with doctrine and I am not backing off from that one iota. However I am not always right and don’t always know all the proper information to make an informed decision about someone. So I guess the Lord allowed my to be convicted in my spirit to put a little more focus on brotherly love and achieve some balance in my walk with the Lord. That is part of the reason for not writing these last few weeks. Sometimes we need to reflect and evaluate where we are with the Lord, with our children, with our wives and with our brothers in Christ. I must admit that I did not like all that I saw, therefore I felt compelled to step off the bully pulpit for a little while and exercise a little humility, as well as fellowship with my brothers and more worshipping the Lord in spirit and truth.
All of this leads me to my overall point and that is the balance between rigid spiritless legalism and “spirit filled” charismatic churches with no doctrine is harder then you think it is. Depending on your background we seem to want to swing one way or the other. Whichever side you tend to end up on it is fruitless both ways. The balancing act is impossible without the Holy Spirit leading and giving the ability to understand sound doctrine in the Holy Word. When I am leading my own life I tend to get rigid spiritless and legalist. So I guess a little spirit filled charismatic expression might not kill me after all. I’m sure glad the Lord will get rid of all my rebellion when I get home. I would however like to get as close to him as I can while I’m here. This life we live in Christ is hard sometimes, but it sure beats the alternative don’t you think?
Church of Children
A friend of mine posted a blog that he read about the feminization of the church. Now we have heard of the society at large being feminized, a lot of talk radio most notably Rush Limbaugh have talked about this topic frequently, but I have not heard a lot of commentary on the church being feminized. However, I concur with the evaluation about the church. I think this issue creates a twofold problem. First of all if the church is geared towards things that are important to women outside of women’s groups that church must choose to move away from things more masculine. That creates a leadership void that women step into and therefore created problems in how a church is supposed to be run. The second I believe to be intended consequences of this is men who are never challenged to become the men God wants them to become. Essentially we get a church filled with women acting like men and men acting like children. You might wonder why I said men act like children? Well, I don’t think a Christian man will totally take on feminine characteristics even if his wife is a type A take charge personality. Therefore I don’t think what we have is a total reversal of roles, although sometimes I wonder! Before I continue I don’t think the church’s issues are the fault of women taking over it is the fault of men not fulfilling their roles. (Another one of my disclaimers to make sure I am not misunderstood!) What I think happens is men find their worth apart from the roles in the home, church and the heavy lifting of ministry, and instead find them in their leisure time. How many guys have motorcycles, trucks, watch ESPN, go golfing, etc. I am not saying that these things are in and of themselves bad because I do all these things (except the golfing I just added that because I think other people do.) What I am saying is that a live filled with these things in an effort to hide from your wife, kids, or the hard work of what God is calling you to do is childlike. Let’s be honest hear all of these things are toys and entertainment and a live focused on those things is the life that you had when you were a child. It is repulsive to see a man with a ton of high priced toys that is afraid of his wife and a Bible that has never been taken off the shelf. It is just as bad however to see a man going to all of the programs at church and going through the motions but only his wife is really excited to be there. I must admit that I have been less then thrilled to go to men’s fellowships at churches. They really have turned into female chat sessions, we never DO anything we just talk about stuff. It is like stepping into an episode of the view that is masquerading as a deep men’s study. Look I am not saying that there is a bunch of heresy being preached everywhere (although you do have to be careful about that.) What I mean is that it is an inch deep and a mile wide, anybody tried to fish in a lake that is an inch deep, not much good is it. That has become the church to men, not much good but they go because there wife wants them to.
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
John 14
It has been awhile since I have written but my recent journey through the book of John has inspired me to write again. I did not expect to get as much out of this book as I did. It’s amazing what you can capture from the Bible when the Holy Spirit illuminates what you are reading. All of chapters 14 and 15 stood out in ways that I had not discovered before. I will probably break this down into two or three writings so I do not rush through and miss what I think is important. It is not like me to write about the feel good part of the Bible because I think the feel good health and wealth name it and claim it gospel has saturated the church enough. So rest easy there is some meat here but these two chapters are extremely comforting for the nomadic believer struggling through this world. I’m not sure how far I will get but I’m going to start with verses 1-3.
“Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in me. In my father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.”
What a beautiful and soothing statement for the believer. This is a verse that has been used frequently in the church today and rightfully so. However, if you search the gospels you will see that the Lord speaks through parables and does not speak in a straight forward manner to anyone except those that truly follow him. I mention that because this is a rare occurrence when Jesus is this candid when describing the glory that awaits His disciples when they get to heaven. So this is significant that He is issuing these comforting statements to His inner circle of disciples and there is reason for this. I’m not going to get into this next point in depth I just want to give it to you as a side note. All of 14 and most of 15 are very straight forward and comforting words from Jesus to his disciples (not as common as you would think in the gospels.) In chapter 16:1 (read it on your own time) Jesus tells them what they will face as far as persecution when He returns to heaven. Essentially He is giving them a picture of what the prize is before He issues the bad news of what is to come before that prize. Remember that Jesus himself endures all of the persecution while on this earth, but He is preparing His disciples for greater responsibility after He ascends to the Father in heaven.
I just thought it was important to make that point briefly so that you could get a picture of why Jesus was saying this and what He is preparing His disciples for. Now let’s get back to the comfort and excitement of what is to come that this chapter shows us. I want to jump ahead to verse 12 that says,
“Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works then these he will do, because I go to My Father.”
It sounds blasphemous that His disciples will do greater things then He did. Jesus also said that the servant is not greater then the master, so what are we to make of this. After all isn’t the greatest of all to die for the sins of the world, how can we compare to that. Well, clearly because we are sinners we cannot so this must mean something else. If you fast forward to Pentecost in Acts chapter 2 where 3,000 were saved and before Peter and John were imprisoned 5,000 were saved. Wow! Has anyone seen that kind of fruit in that short of a period of time!? The day of Pentecost also fulfilled a prophecy in Joel which states:
“And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God, That I will pour out of My Spirit on all flesh : Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your young men shall see visions Your old men shall dream dreams. And on My menservants and on MY maidservants I will pour out My Spirit in those days and they shall prophesy. I will show wonders in heaven above and signs in the earth beneath; Blood and fire and vapor of smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness. And the moon into blood. Before the coming of the great and awesome day of the Lord. And it shall come to pass That whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”
In light of all of this we can conclude that the Lord through the Holy Spirit is telling us that through Him we can do all things. So at first it seems like blasphemy to say that we will do greater things then Jesus and ultimately we didn’t because His death on the cross is what opened up all of this to be, so even our works are through Him. So what I think this is saying is that in this world the Holy Spirit (third equal part of the triune God) now working with the Father and Son with all power can bear much more fruit. Therefore the passage in John is stating that through this power we can bear much more fruit as far as salvation of souls now then before Jesus’ resurrection. We are blessed with access to the full power Christ with more revelation of Him then any other people in all of human history, what a privilege! All of the Old Testament was pointing to Jesus coming as the Messiah to set His people free and He accomplished that task (although not how we thought He would). Therefore all power that can be available this side of heaven is available to all believers more then ever before. Why? Because the scripture has said so! A lot of this has been espoused from pulpits all around the world and with all of the churches around and all of this power and anointing available to the believer why is the world in such shambles?
The answer to that question and many others lies in John 14 verses 15,21,23 and 24. Here in these verses you will find word that sends the modern day church into a tailspin of accusations towards someone who dares to bring it up. That word is obedience and it is not talked about enough in our Christian circles. The bible has plenty to say about it in the Old and New Testaments of scripture. So let’s break this down.
Verse 15, “If you love me keep my commandments.”
Verse 21a, “He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me….”
Verse 23a, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My Word;…”
Verse24a, “He who does not love Me does not keep my words,….”
All of these verses are right after all the promises that we have talked about above. People seem to miss this when we talk about miracles, healings, and God’s love. It is clear that the Lord will not dispense all that He is to an unbelieving man. These things great blessings are only reserved for the true followers of Christ, not Christians in name only and certainly not the unbelieving world.
Here is where people start saying that I am discussing a works based merit system. As if God is waiting on you to obey enough so that He can dispense blessings. Not at all! Ephesians 2:8-9 is clear that salvation is grace and grace alone. That grace is in fact the beginning point of salvation and if it were not so no one would be saved ever! However when we talk about grace it is not cheap grace where you walk to the front of the church make an emotional acceptance of Jesus as your savior and then remain unchanged. Not so, grace is sufficient to sustain you and powerful enough to change you. Therefore obedience is a response to grace based upon an attitude of gratitude towards the Lord. This means that in the beginning you are compelled because you have to and when the Lord changes areas of your life you have the blessing of wanting to obey Him!
I thought it was necessary to briefly submit that disclaimer (again! For those that have read some of my writings before.) My point is that if you want the blessings you will never get them, but if you have been changed and now you want to know the risen Lord you already have the heavenly blessings and the earthly works will soon follow. More on this in the next writing, I’m outta here!
“Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in me. In my father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.”
What a beautiful and soothing statement for the believer. This is a verse that has been used frequently in the church today and rightfully so. However, if you search the gospels you will see that the Lord speaks through parables and does not speak in a straight forward manner to anyone except those that truly follow him. I mention that because this is a rare occurrence when Jesus is this candid when describing the glory that awaits His disciples when they get to heaven. So this is significant that He is issuing these comforting statements to His inner circle of disciples and there is reason for this. I’m not going to get into this next point in depth I just want to give it to you as a side note. All of 14 and most of 15 are very straight forward and comforting words from Jesus to his disciples (not as common as you would think in the gospels.) In chapter 16:1 (read it on your own time) Jesus tells them what they will face as far as persecution when He returns to heaven. Essentially He is giving them a picture of what the prize is before He issues the bad news of what is to come before that prize. Remember that Jesus himself endures all of the persecution while on this earth, but He is preparing His disciples for greater responsibility after He ascends to the Father in heaven.
I just thought it was important to make that point briefly so that you could get a picture of why Jesus was saying this and what He is preparing His disciples for. Now let’s get back to the comfort and excitement of what is to come that this chapter shows us. I want to jump ahead to verse 12 that says,
“Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works then these he will do, because I go to My Father.”
It sounds blasphemous that His disciples will do greater things then He did. Jesus also said that the servant is not greater then the master, so what are we to make of this. After all isn’t the greatest of all to die for the sins of the world, how can we compare to that. Well, clearly because we are sinners we cannot so this must mean something else. If you fast forward to Pentecost in Acts chapter 2 where 3,000 were saved and before Peter and John were imprisoned 5,000 were saved. Wow! Has anyone seen that kind of fruit in that short of a period of time!? The day of Pentecost also fulfilled a prophecy in Joel which states:
“And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God, That I will pour out of My Spirit on all flesh : Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your young men shall see visions Your old men shall dream dreams. And on My menservants and on MY maidservants I will pour out My Spirit in those days and they shall prophesy. I will show wonders in heaven above and signs in the earth beneath; Blood and fire and vapor of smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness. And the moon into blood. Before the coming of the great and awesome day of the Lord. And it shall come to pass That whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”
In light of all of this we can conclude that the Lord through the Holy Spirit is telling us that through Him we can do all things. So at first it seems like blasphemy to say that we will do greater things then Jesus and ultimately we didn’t because His death on the cross is what opened up all of this to be, so even our works are through Him. So what I think this is saying is that in this world the Holy Spirit (third equal part of the triune God) now working with the Father and Son with all power can bear much more fruit. Therefore the passage in John is stating that through this power we can bear much more fruit as far as salvation of souls now then before Jesus’ resurrection. We are blessed with access to the full power Christ with more revelation of Him then any other people in all of human history, what a privilege! All of the Old Testament was pointing to Jesus coming as the Messiah to set His people free and He accomplished that task (although not how we thought He would). Therefore all power that can be available this side of heaven is available to all believers more then ever before. Why? Because the scripture has said so! A lot of this has been espoused from pulpits all around the world and with all of the churches around and all of this power and anointing available to the believer why is the world in such shambles?
The answer to that question and many others lies in John 14 verses 15,21,23 and 24. Here in these verses you will find word that sends the modern day church into a tailspin of accusations towards someone who dares to bring it up. That word is obedience and it is not talked about enough in our Christian circles. The bible has plenty to say about it in the Old and New Testaments of scripture. So let’s break this down.
Verse 15, “If you love me keep my commandments.”
Verse 21a, “He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me….”
Verse 23a, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My Word;…”
Verse24a, “He who does not love Me does not keep my words,….”
All of these verses are right after all the promises that we have talked about above. People seem to miss this when we talk about miracles, healings, and God’s love. It is clear that the Lord will not dispense all that He is to an unbelieving man. These things great blessings are only reserved for the true followers of Christ, not Christians in name only and certainly not the unbelieving world.
Here is where people start saying that I am discussing a works based merit system. As if God is waiting on you to obey enough so that He can dispense blessings. Not at all! Ephesians 2:8-9 is clear that salvation is grace and grace alone. That grace is in fact the beginning point of salvation and if it were not so no one would be saved ever! However when we talk about grace it is not cheap grace where you walk to the front of the church make an emotional acceptance of Jesus as your savior and then remain unchanged. Not so, grace is sufficient to sustain you and powerful enough to change you. Therefore obedience is a response to grace based upon an attitude of gratitude towards the Lord. This means that in the beginning you are compelled because you have to and when the Lord changes areas of your life you have the blessing of wanting to obey Him!
I thought it was necessary to briefly submit that disclaimer (again! For those that have read some of my writings before.) My point is that if you want the blessings you will never get them, but if you have been changed and now you want to know the risen Lord you already have the heavenly blessings and the earthly works will soon follow. More on this in the next writing, I’m outta here!
Friday, February 4, 2011
It's the Law Stupid!
Recently, I had a conversation with one of my best friends about Constitutional principles and in particular the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision. It was a rather spirited discussion that fortunately for both of us did not get too heated. I consider my friend to be a level headed and intelligent man, who is not prone to flying off the handle. Although we disagree on a great number of issues, his ability to listen and analytically break down complex issues is something I admire in him to a great degree. I was however more than a little discouraged at my friends lack of knowledge of basic principles installed in the Bill of Rights. That conversation compounded by many others has led me to shed some light on historical legal principles that are seemingly forgotten. Our society would be advanced tremendously if we were to return to a more intellectual discussion of law. Especially in regards to the above mentioned Supreme Court decision. Although it is an issue that arouses passions we seem to forget that we are a nation of laws and not passions.
When the country was founded there is no doubt that passions ran high, and they had to be tempered with certain principles that could not be compromised. One of the things that made our revolution unique in comparison to all others was the emphasis that we are a nation of laws. The other is a little more subtle yet just as important. We were also a product of a revolution that had no leader. This illustrates that we were dedicated to unalienable human rights, and the rule of law and not the charisma of one man motivating others. Maybe the loss of that ideal has allowed us to succumb to our passions rather than reason. The Roe v. Wade case is one example of that fact and bears further elaboration.
To completely understand this issue we need to start from the beginning, which is not the Constitution, but rather the Magna Carta and English court of Star Chamber. The Magna Carta was a Thirteenth Century document on human rights established in England. It bears a lot of the rights included in our United States Constitution, but lacked the judicial chops to have any lasting authority. The English system was still a monarchy. Therefore the ideas espoused in the Magna Carta were susceptible to change based upon the whims of whatever king was in power. Essentially its authority was relegated to the benevolence or lack thereof of the king in power. The judicial branch of England was also confined to administer each king’s new laws and had no power to check that authority. The trial of William Penn for seditious libel in that very court in the 1600s for preaching in the street was well known by all the founders. Since William Penn was not a part of the state sponsored Anglican Church his views were considered heresy towards the king. The court of Star Chamber, ignoring any freedom of religion (which was alluded to in the Magna Carta) convicted him. The court at that time denied him a trial based upon the admission that he did in fact believe what he stated he did.(Sadly the admission of his belief was considered to be self incrimination and worthy of a guilty verdict in and of itself.) Therefore it was important that our founders made sure that the court was checked in its power and that the Constitution presupposed any executive order, legislative law, or Supreme Court decision. For the first time in human history a country was bound by the rule of law above any leader, monarch or aristocracy. Understanding why the Constitution was written can help illustrate more vividly its far reaching importance. We had learned through previous failures (most notably in England). The emphasis was to secure natural rights of man and provide checks and balances in government. Lastly, there was an attempt to make possible changes to our laws a slow and cumbersome process. The founders wanted the new government to tread cautiously when making changes that could lead to destructive results down the road.
The step towards what I believe as been unconstitutional decisions in the legal arena began in the early Twentieth Century. It was a subtle shift in how we study law. The Supreme Court rule of “stare decisis” (Latin for ‘let it stand’) or more commonly known as precedent was raised above the Constitution as the rule of law. What that did was base each decision on the previous one. That seems rather benign, but if you make one unconstitutional decision it leads to another decision moving us further away from the Constitution rather then correcting the first wrong. That principle was alive and well in Roe v. Wade. The groundwork for that decision was laid years before abortion was ever the issue.
Let’s begin in 1961 with Mapp v. Ohio. This case involved a woman who had the Cleveland police invade her home without a warrant, because she was considered a bombing suspect. Nothing was found in that area. However, through the search process they seized obscene materials which were illegal in the state of Ohio. She was convicted and the case was brought to the Supreme Court because the information was illegally seized without a warrant. The Supreme Court rightly decided that the evidence had to be excluded, because the search was warrantless. The court developed the exclusionary rule that further clarified that all evidence seized illegally was inadmissible in a court of law. All of this was congruent with the Fourth Amendment. The Supreme Court had done its job in securing a person is safe in their personal papers and property from warrantless searches and seizures. It also secured the Fifth Amendment right to due process. So what is the problem? Well, they did the right thing except for one small detail. They cited Boyd v. United States in 1886 and combined it with their current decision to institute a “Right to Privacy”. Why was this necessary? The checks and balances system just worked to perfection to right a wrong. So why add an additional right that clearly the Constitution has already given through the enumeration of all of its rights? Now that privacy has been elevated from an expectation to a right, we have another problem. How do you define it further than the Constitution has already done? The new “right” had not been defined, but it was about to be.
Now fast forward to 1965, in the case of Griswold v. Connecticut. A Connecticut statute had made it illegal to give information or instruction about birth control devices. Estelle Griswold and C. Lee Buxton were found guilty as accessories and fined $100 each for violating the Fourteenth Amendment as members of Planned Parenthood. The court citing Mapp v. Ohio and Boyd v. United States (1886) said that the law was unconstitutional based on the “Right to Privacy” created by these cases. The problem is that all both of those previous cases involved the seizing of papers or property without a warrant within the confines of someone’s home. This case had no such issue. They were in public and violating a known public statute in the state of Connecticut. Now we see the problem with the court adding something to the Constitution. It is obvious that we do not want anyone to take away our rights, but sometimes adding a benign and unclear, ambiguous right can be just as destructive.
Now we arrive in 1973 at the infamous Roe v. Wade decision. We should all know the facts by now. A woman using the alias of Jane Roe sued the state of Texas for her right to have an abortion based upon her right to privacy supposedly guaranteed in the First, Fourth, Fifth, Ninth and Fourteenth Amendments to the Constitution. Why cite so many Amendments you might ask? Well, since the “Right to Privacy” has been liberally construed. It is now involving your person in a public arena as well as in your home as established in Griswold. The next issue is that a “right” defined by the Constitution is an unalienable right (meaning without lean of any kind). Therefore since the previous expectation of privacy given by the Constitution in the Fourth Amendment has been upgraded to a “right” it now involves the same amount of protection as your right to life, liberty and property. Let’s step back in time to 1961 and Mapp v. Ohio. Remember that the court did in fact uphold the expectation of privacy as well as your right to not have your personal effects taken without a sufficient warrant and due process of law. Essentially the court had done its job correctly in 1961, but a small step of judicial activism added a right that was not there. If that decision had not been made the two subsequent decisions would have had no legal ground to stand on and would not have occurred. Now we can see with clarity how the addition to a right to privacy that didn’t exist before has now justified the end the right to life of someone else (the baby).
The point to this very brief synopsis of a few Supreme Court cases is threefold. Number one whether you agree or disagree with Roe v. Wade it is clear that one small step away from the Constitution has led to a larger leap away from that document down the road. Number two when we treat the law either as a lawyer or an average citizen as a protection against tyranny and not as something to manipulate we can avoid usurpation of rights in all arenas. In the simplest of terms we need to remember that “if it ain’t broke don’t fix it!” Number three and probably most important. In every arena in life, you cannot always base your next decision on your previous one. If you do you are not accounting for human error and could be making an even larger mistake with each subsequent decision. The law and life are not complicated. Just follow instructions.
When the country was founded there is no doubt that passions ran high, and they had to be tempered with certain principles that could not be compromised. One of the things that made our revolution unique in comparison to all others was the emphasis that we are a nation of laws. The other is a little more subtle yet just as important. We were also a product of a revolution that had no leader. This illustrates that we were dedicated to unalienable human rights, and the rule of law and not the charisma of one man motivating others. Maybe the loss of that ideal has allowed us to succumb to our passions rather than reason. The Roe v. Wade case is one example of that fact and bears further elaboration.
To completely understand this issue we need to start from the beginning, which is not the Constitution, but rather the Magna Carta and English court of Star Chamber. The Magna Carta was a Thirteenth Century document on human rights established in England. It bears a lot of the rights included in our United States Constitution, but lacked the judicial chops to have any lasting authority. The English system was still a monarchy. Therefore the ideas espoused in the Magna Carta were susceptible to change based upon the whims of whatever king was in power. Essentially its authority was relegated to the benevolence or lack thereof of the king in power. The judicial branch of England was also confined to administer each king’s new laws and had no power to check that authority. The trial of William Penn for seditious libel in that very court in the 1600s for preaching in the street was well known by all the founders. Since William Penn was not a part of the state sponsored Anglican Church his views were considered heresy towards the king. The court of Star Chamber, ignoring any freedom of religion (which was alluded to in the Magna Carta) convicted him. The court at that time denied him a trial based upon the admission that he did in fact believe what he stated he did.(Sadly the admission of his belief was considered to be self incrimination and worthy of a guilty verdict in and of itself.) Therefore it was important that our founders made sure that the court was checked in its power and that the Constitution presupposed any executive order, legislative law, or Supreme Court decision. For the first time in human history a country was bound by the rule of law above any leader, monarch or aristocracy. Understanding why the Constitution was written can help illustrate more vividly its far reaching importance. We had learned through previous failures (most notably in England). The emphasis was to secure natural rights of man and provide checks and balances in government. Lastly, there was an attempt to make possible changes to our laws a slow and cumbersome process. The founders wanted the new government to tread cautiously when making changes that could lead to destructive results down the road.
The step towards what I believe as been unconstitutional decisions in the legal arena began in the early Twentieth Century. It was a subtle shift in how we study law. The Supreme Court rule of “stare decisis” (Latin for ‘let it stand’) or more commonly known as precedent was raised above the Constitution as the rule of law. What that did was base each decision on the previous one. That seems rather benign, but if you make one unconstitutional decision it leads to another decision moving us further away from the Constitution rather then correcting the first wrong. That principle was alive and well in Roe v. Wade. The groundwork for that decision was laid years before abortion was ever the issue.
Let’s begin in 1961 with Mapp v. Ohio. This case involved a woman who had the Cleveland police invade her home without a warrant, because she was considered a bombing suspect. Nothing was found in that area. However, through the search process they seized obscene materials which were illegal in the state of Ohio. She was convicted and the case was brought to the Supreme Court because the information was illegally seized without a warrant. The Supreme Court rightly decided that the evidence had to be excluded, because the search was warrantless. The court developed the exclusionary rule that further clarified that all evidence seized illegally was inadmissible in a court of law. All of this was congruent with the Fourth Amendment. The Supreme Court had done its job in securing a person is safe in their personal papers and property from warrantless searches and seizures. It also secured the Fifth Amendment right to due process. So what is the problem? Well, they did the right thing except for one small detail. They cited Boyd v. United States in 1886 and combined it with their current decision to institute a “Right to Privacy”. Why was this necessary? The checks and balances system just worked to perfection to right a wrong. So why add an additional right that clearly the Constitution has already given through the enumeration of all of its rights? Now that privacy has been elevated from an expectation to a right, we have another problem. How do you define it further than the Constitution has already done? The new “right” had not been defined, but it was about to be.
Now fast forward to 1965, in the case of Griswold v. Connecticut. A Connecticut statute had made it illegal to give information or instruction about birth control devices. Estelle Griswold and C. Lee Buxton were found guilty as accessories and fined $100 each for violating the Fourteenth Amendment as members of Planned Parenthood. The court citing Mapp v. Ohio and Boyd v. United States (1886) said that the law was unconstitutional based on the “Right to Privacy” created by these cases. The problem is that all both of those previous cases involved the seizing of papers or property without a warrant within the confines of someone’s home. This case had no such issue. They were in public and violating a known public statute in the state of Connecticut. Now we see the problem with the court adding something to the Constitution. It is obvious that we do not want anyone to take away our rights, but sometimes adding a benign and unclear, ambiguous right can be just as destructive.
Now we arrive in 1973 at the infamous Roe v. Wade decision. We should all know the facts by now. A woman using the alias of Jane Roe sued the state of Texas for her right to have an abortion based upon her right to privacy supposedly guaranteed in the First, Fourth, Fifth, Ninth and Fourteenth Amendments to the Constitution. Why cite so many Amendments you might ask? Well, since the “Right to Privacy” has been liberally construed. It is now involving your person in a public arena as well as in your home as established in Griswold. The next issue is that a “right” defined by the Constitution is an unalienable right (meaning without lean of any kind). Therefore since the previous expectation of privacy given by the Constitution in the Fourth Amendment has been upgraded to a “right” it now involves the same amount of protection as your right to life, liberty and property. Let’s step back in time to 1961 and Mapp v. Ohio. Remember that the court did in fact uphold the expectation of privacy as well as your right to not have your personal effects taken without a sufficient warrant and due process of law. Essentially the court had done its job correctly in 1961, but a small step of judicial activism added a right that was not there. If that decision had not been made the two subsequent decisions would have had no legal ground to stand on and would not have occurred. Now we can see with clarity how the addition to a right to privacy that didn’t exist before has now justified the end the right to life of someone else (the baby).
The point to this very brief synopsis of a few Supreme Court cases is threefold. Number one whether you agree or disagree with Roe v. Wade it is clear that one small step away from the Constitution has led to a larger leap away from that document down the road. Number two when we treat the law either as a lawyer or an average citizen as a protection against tyranny and not as something to manipulate we can avoid usurpation of rights in all arenas. In the simplest of terms we need to remember that “if it ain’t broke don’t fix it!” Number three and probably most important. In every arena in life, you cannot always base your next decision on your previous one. If you do you are not accounting for human error and could be making an even larger mistake with each subsequent decision. The law and life are not complicated. Just follow instructions.
Friday, January 14, 2011
Production over Consumption
I was listening to a sermon on 106.9FM The Light, a local Christian radio station out of Charlotte NC, recently and the pastor (I cannot recall who it was) was preaching about fruit bearing Christianity. It was very illuminating to me. I am not going to repeat the sermon, but the lesson in it along with my wife’s activities recently motivated this writing. My wife is constantly thinking of basic household items that she can make from laundry detergent to my own deodorant (The jury is still out on the deodorant, but I will try it and see!) Today my mind made the connection between my wife’s actions and this particular sermon and the Holy Spirit moved in me to think about what He is accomplishing in my family. So I want to begin with a passage of scripture in John 15: 5 (New Living Translation).
“I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing.”
I am going to steal the theme from the aforementioned sermon, (whoever he is I hope he won’t mind). His premise, as will be mine, was the difference between fruit bearing Christianity and those that are fruit eaters. I had never thought about that distinction and the sermon did not grab my attention in a real meaningful way until today. I can now see what the Lord is doing in my family. He is trying to teach myself and my family an attitude of production over consumption. Briefly, I would like to detour off topic a little bit and touch on the subject of economics (Trust me this will be a very short sidebar; I am by no means an economist.). I think it is no revelation to most that the United States is a consumer driven economy. We consume far more then we produce and probably have since about the 1940’s. Look, I am not going to dive into the differences between supply side economics and Keynesian economics, because frankly I am not qualified to do so. Besides, by miniscule knowledge of these terms is about as deep as my economic knowledge goes! I will just make the point that it seems that true Christianity would probably fall under supply side economics. See I told you that would not take long, but there is a point to all of this. Christianity is a production over consumption lifestyle. This scripture clearly illustrates that when we allow the Lord to be our source of all spiritual nutrients, so to speak, we will produce fruit. It is a fact and a promise from God. That being said, I think that the spiritual and economic conditions of the United States of America and the whole world for that matter are tied to consumption over production attitude. This leads me back to my wife who is the real source of the inspiration for this. The Lord is using her to teach me to be a producer and not a consumer, because that is what she has become. We are surprised how much resistance we get for choosing to change our lifestyle in that manner. Rather than encourage us or even ask questions about how they can do these things as well, criticism ensues instead. Not all the time, but enough to convince me that these decisions we are making are flying in the face of the culture that we live in. If my not so scientific analysis is accurate, then why have we become this way? Well I have two observations. One is that we do not desire to consume the Word of God. That consumption produces a spirit of humility which from my experience leads to a desire to work and produce fruit for the Lord. Number two is, we are self-reliant and over time that attitude will cause people to seek self gratification and therefore consume more and produce less. That doesn’t mean everyone will become lazy, but it does mean that any real production will be for immediate gratification towards self and not for the Lord or the greater good of your legacy as a family.
The third point I would like to make is based upon my failed attempt at a garden in my backyard last spring. It seems that last spring my gardening knowledge was not much more then my economic knowledge and my garden did not yield any fruit. The truth is that I did not put enough work into it so that good fruit could flourish. It was really an experimental effort, because I had not tried this before. I tilled the soil properly at least according to my limited expertise, but I guess I counted on rain and sunlight doing the rest. I did not weed or make sure insects did not destroy what was growing. Long story short, I was not as prepared as I thought for the amount of work that I needed to undertake to make this a fruitful experiment. Then something else that I did not expect happened. A few months later a couple of long vines with very large green leaves, larger then my hand, sprang up to the left of my porch, and I didn’t know what they were. Upon closer inspection I saw cucumbers growing on them. The strange thing is that I chose at the last minute to not plant cucumbers although I did buy the seeds. I realized at that point that I had opened the seed package for the cucumbers and some had accidentally fallen on the ground. The actual fruit was useless but the leaves were quite large and green and with a casual glance you would think that plant was fruit bearing, because it was so much greener than the other plants that were planted in good soil. The point is that none of my garden had produced any good fruit. That little experiment was quite educational in a variety of ways, but I would like to focus on one of the spiritual lessons that is pertinent to our discussion. My desire was to grow food for my family to consume, but clearly I had not allowed myself to be under adequate teaching to be able to produce what was necessary. I think we suffer from this problem in our spiritual lives. We seek the results of the Lord or to say it another way we want to consume the fruit that others have labored to produce. Unfortunately, we do not put in the work necessary (sanctification) to produce that work. I am not talking about work based salvation! What I am saying is that an attitude of gratitude towards the Lord will cause us to consume the Word of God and therefore be producers of good fruit. Obviously I was too engrossed in an attitude of consumption to do the work necessary to produce a good crop in my garden. Sadly that has been my attitude spiritually more times then I would like to admit. I would like to end this with a scripture from the Old Testament. All of Exodus 35-36, obviously I am not going to put all of this in my text, because it is quite long. I would encourage you to read it for yourself. There is far more wisdom to be gleamed from this passage than what I am going to briefly allude to. The background here is the Lord’s people are taking all of their abilities and building the tabernacle for the Lord. Two things jumped out at me that I would like to share with you. Number one, on several occasions this passage talks about a “spirit of wisdom” in regards to those doing the work on the tabernacle. Meaning that their work ethic and knowledge in their field was supernaturally given. To say it a little more acutely the eternal wisdom of our sovereign God guided there hands to build unto Him what was honoring to Him. How many times have you equated wisdom and a work ethic? I must admit I have not done so very often. The second reason is that you cannot help but notice how economically it must have been a good situation for the people of Israel. Due to everyone producing things necessary for the glorification of our Lord everyone had something to do. To put it in modern economic terms there was full employment in the Nation of Israel at the time. Guess what? There was so much production the priests had to tell the people to stop producing what was necessary for the building of the temple.
This is not some health and wealth, name it and claim it theology. Actually, it is just the opposite it shows us the attitude of service for the kingdom that the Lord desires. It also shows the results it will yield for the Lord’s kingdom. Not for ours! Are you a producer or a consumer?
How about a little extra reading? I decided not to discuss the parable of the sower in Matthew 13:3-9. The main reason is that I don’t think I could do it any better then Jesus did it so I will ask you to just read it. However, I will offer a little advice. Take some time to research how farming was done in the New Testament. This will allow you to see the depth of this parable in ways that all who heard it back then would have clearly understood. That parable really helped to teach me a great deal in regards to my ordinary garden experience. God bless!
“I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing.”
I am going to steal the theme from the aforementioned sermon, (whoever he is I hope he won’t mind). His premise, as will be mine, was the difference between fruit bearing Christianity and those that are fruit eaters. I had never thought about that distinction and the sermon did not grab my attention in a real meaningful way until today. I can now see what the Lord is doing in my family. He is trying to teach myself and my family an attitude of production over consumption. Briefly, I would like to detour off topic a little bit and touch on the subject of economics (Trust me this will be a very short sidebar; I am by no means an economist.). I think it is no revelation to most that the United States is a consumer driven economy. We consume far more then we produce and probably have since about the 1940’s. Look, I am not going to dive into the differences between supply side economics and Keynesian economics, because frankly I am not qualified to do so. Besides, by miniscule knowledge of these terms is about as deep as my economic knowledge goes! I will just make the point that it seems that true Christianity would probably fall under supply side economics. See I told you that would not take long, but there is a point to all of this. Christianity is a production over consumption lifestyle. This scripture clearly illustrates that when we allow the Lord to be our source of all spiritual nutrients, so to speak, we will produce fruit. It is a fact and a promise from God. That being said, I think that the spiritual and economic conditions of the United States of America and the whole world for that matter are tied to consumption over production attitude. This leads me back to my wife who is the real source of the inspiration for this. The Lord is using her to teach me to be a producer and not a consumer, because that is what she has become. We are surprised how much resistance we get for choosing to change our lifestyle in that manner. Rather than encourage us or even ask questions about how they can do these things as well, criticism ensues instead. Not all the time, but enough to convince me that these decisions we are making are flying in the face of the culture that we live in. If my not so scientific analysis is accurate, then why have we become this way? Well I have two observations. One is that we do not desire to consume the Word of God. That consumption produces a spirit of humility which from my experience leads to a desire to work and produce fruit for the Lord. Number two is, we are self-reliant and over time that attitude will cause people to seek self gratification and therefore consume more and produce less. That doesn’t mean everyone will become lazy, but it does mean that any real production will be for immediate gratification towards self and not for the Lord or the greater good of your legacy as a family.
The third point I would like to make is based upon my failed attempt at a garden in my backyard last spring. It seems that last spring my gardening knowledge was not much more then my economic knowledge and my garden did not yield any fruit. The truth is that I did not put enough work into it so that good fruit could flourish. It was really an experimental effort, because I had not tried this before. I tilled the soil properly at least according to my limited expertise, but I guess I counted on rain and sunlight doing the rest. I did not weed or make sure insects did not destroy what was growing. Long story short, I was not as prepared as I thought for the amount of work that I needed to undertake to make this a fruitful experiment. Then something else that I did not expect happened. A few months later a couple of long vines with very large green leaves, larger then my hand, sprang up to the left of my porch, and I didn’t know what they were. Upon closer inspection I saw cucumbers growing on them. The strange thing is that I chose at the last minute to not plant cucumbers although I did buy the seeds. I realized at that point that I had opened the seed package for the cucumbers and some had accidentally fallen on the ground. The actual fruit was useless but the leaves were quite large and green and with a casual glance you would think that plant was fruit bearing, because it was so much greener than the other plants that were planted in good soil. The point is that none of my garden had produced any good fruit. That little experiment was quite educational in a variety of ways, but I would like to focus on one of the spiritual lessons that is pertinent to our discussion. My desire was to grow food for my family to consume, but clearly I had not allowed myself to be under adequate teaching to be able to produce what was necessary. I think we suffer from this problem in our spiritual lives. We seek the results of the Lord or to say it another way we want to consume the fruit that others have labored to produce. Unfortunately, we do not put in the work necessary (sanctification) to produce that work. I am not talking about work based salvation! What I am saying is that an attitude of gratitude towards the Lord will cause us to consume the Word of God and therefore be producers of good fruit. Obviously I was too engrossed in an attitude of consumption to do the work necessary to produce a good crop in my garden. Sadly that has been my attitude spiritually more times then I would like to admit. I would like to end this with a scripture from the Old Testament. All of Exodus 35-36, obviously I am not going to put all of this in my text, because it is quite long. I would encourage you to read it for yourself. There is far more wisdom to be gleamed from this passage than what I am going to briefly allude to. The background here is the Lord’s people are taking all of their abilities and building the tabernacle for the Lord. Two things jumped out at me that I would like to share with you. Number one, on several occasions this passage talks about a “spirit of wisdom” in regards to those doing the work on the tabernacle. Meaning that their work ethic and knowledge in their field was supernaturally given. To say it a little more acutely the eternal wisdom of our sovereign God guided there hands to build unto Him what was honoring to Him. How many times have you equated wisdom and a work ethic? I must admit I have not done so very often. The second reason is that you cannot help but notice how economically it must have been a good situation for the people of Israel. Due to everyone producing things necessary for the glorification of our Lord everyone had something to do. To put it in modern economic terms there was full employment in the Nation of Israel at the time. Guess what? There was so much production the priests had to tell the people to stop producing what was necessary for the building of the temple.
This is not some health and wealth, name it and claim it theology. Actually, it is just the opposite it shows us the attitude of service for the kingdom that the Lord desires. It also shows the results it will yield for the Lord’s kingdom. Not for ours! Are you a producer or a consumer?
How about a little extra reading? I decided not to discuss the parable of the sower in Matthew 13:3-9. The main reason is that I don’t think I could do it any better then Jesus did it so I will ask you to just read it. However, I will offer a little advice. Take some time to research how farming was done in the New Testament. This will allow you to see the depth of this parable in ways that all who heard it back then would have clearly understood. That parable really helped to teach me a great deal in regards to my ordinary garden experience. God bless!
Sunday, January 9, 2011
Knowing God
I did not think that I would dive into things that were personally happening in my life, but this is one that I cannot fail to discuss. The premise of this blog is wisdom that flows supernaturally from a Holy God. Therefore it would lead one to logically conclude that you should know this God of whom we serve. Obviously my view of this subject begins and ends with his Holy Word and there is a passage in Genesis that I have to touch on. First off I have to tell you that yesterday was an unexpected setback and on the surface appears to be devastating. The background of this is that I am a father of three with a stay at home wife. I am currently unemployed and yesterday our only car’s engine blew! I have been in the Word of God more so then ever before in my life, which is the predominant reason for my writings. I will not usually plug a book, but I have been reading a book called “Knowing God” by J.I. Packer, and this book is worth the read and also correlates to my topic. Knowing all the attributes of God is the predominant theme of why I am compelled to share this with you and the only reason for my existence. That being said, I would be remiss if I told you that I am writing this with all the human emotions such as fear, frustration, and a touch of sorrow. My point is that my soul is not shaken, but yes my flesh is scared! However I am excited to know what is to come, because I have learned how my God operates which is to say not how we would think. This is not the first time this has happened in my life and it has escalated exponentially during the last 6 years of my life. I want to get into Genesis so I will not expound exhaustively on my personal testimony, but a little insight hopefully will help you out. I was an average church going Christian for about ten years after my salvation at age 20, but up until six years ago the Lord was not in control of my life, I was! Because of that I was an extremely miserable Christian and utterly fruitless! I thought I was doing the right things such as Sunday school, Bible studies, church sports and all the trappings of a “Christian life”, but I was lying to myself. Over the course of those years I grew tired of the grind I was living and my sin eventually took its toll. At the age of 30 I was separated from my wife, drinking heavily, totally depressed and wondering why. As a happy side note the children that I now have been blessed with are from my wife, we never got divorced and now have a great marriage! To make a long story short, six years ago I slumped back into the back row of a church on the first Sunday of 2005 and nothing has been the same since. Remember earlier I said that these trials have grown in the last six years, that’s right, as soon as I returned to the Lord he immediately rolled up and his sleeves and got busy getting rid of everything I had in my life that needed to be destroyed! Therefore the Lord has been preparing me with these faith lessons all along, and with that being said I want to share a passage about Abraham in Genesis chapter 22 it’s pretty long so I am only going to write a few verses here.
1And it came to pass after these things that God did tempt Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham: and he said, Behold, here I am.
2And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of.
3And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and saddled his ass, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son, and clave the wood for the burnt offering, and rose up, and went unto the place of which God had told him.
4Then on the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes, and saw the place afar off.
5And Abraham said unto his young men, Abide ye here with the ass; and I and the lad will go yonder and worship, and come again to you.
First of all I have only given you the first five verses and I invite you to read the rest of this chapter on your own. I will try to show to the best of my ability how amazing this story really is and how this is a call to faith for myself and every believer. The backdrop of this story is that Abraham has been residing in the land of the Philistines for a long time (it’s not clear to me how long that time was), after making a covenant with Abimelech. It is also worth noting that Abraham was not always the faithful man that we see here, the Lord had to create that in him. Although he did belief the Lord when it came to the promise that God would give his barren wife a natural son, he definitely had his missteps (chapter 20 he lied to Abimelech and told him that Sarah was his sister and not his wife because of fear for his own life.) I wanted to bring up that Abraham had been in the land of the Philistines for a long time to bring up the point that the Lord was taking that time to prepare Abraham for his lesson in faith that only God knew was coming. Not all that dissimilar to the last six years which have occurred in my life, were preparation for my particular faith lesson that I am going through. I think it’s important to grasp the humanity of Abraham with all his sin and disobedience so that we do not get caught in the trap of thinking that these huge steps of faith are reserved for “super saints” in the Bible. Yes Abraham was declared by God to have favor in the sight of God, but that is more about who God is; not who Abraham is. We need to realize that the faith that Abraham is showing us originated from the Lord and therefore is exactly what He is calling every believer into, not just the “super saints!” How did Abraham become willing to sacrifice his own son for the Lord? I know some people don’t want to get caught up in the details of this story because on the surface it seems so horrendous to think about, but let me give you a little different perspective. I want you to get the full picture here. Abraham was called out by God many years before this event happened. God promised Abraham that his barren wife would give birth to his seed (they were both about 100 I think, not completely sure but I know that number is close.) Moreover that son (Isaac) was to be the seed of God’s chosen people and would bless all the nations of the earth, including us gentile believers that have been grafted into that Jewish lineage as joint heirs to the throne. I don’t even think Abraham knew what God’s promise really meant, I know I could not have conceived of how much that promise actually meant. I’m still not sure I do, not this side of heaven anyway. Now here we are years later after the birth of Ishmael by his maidservant Hagar (clearly not what God had in mind), travelling through foreign lands and he still hasn’t seen the land to house this nation God has promised. Isaac has finally arrived and Abraham must think “Wow here we go; now things are starting to move!” Instead he ends up living with the Philistines, that’s right he is still not in his land! Finally Isaac has grown up and now God intervenes dramatically in Abraham’s life. Personally, I would have thought that the Lord was going to give clear concise three day directions to the land where his people will reside! Here comes the promise, I bet Abraham was excited to hear from the Lord! Well you just read what the Lord said. What would you have thought, I know I would have been distraught. There’s no doubt in my mind that Abraham’s human emotions were all tied up in knots. They had to be, faith or no faith this was his son, the promise, Isaac represented Abraham’s whole life. Isaac was everything God had promised and this is what God asks of him? I want to stop here and talk about how faith is not tied to emotional experiences. I would be a liar if I didn’t tell you that there have been some moments of fear and anxiety even as I write these words to you regarding my little situation. I have no doubt that Abraham felt the same way, after all Abraham was not God he was one of us frail unknowing humans. It’s not about what you feel that shows your faith it’s what you do. What did Abraham do? Verse 3 says that he “rose up early in the morning”. Early in the morning, are you serious! Most of us wouldn’t even do it let alone do it without delay! Let’s bring up one more point that the scripture tells us. The journey took three days. Abraham had three days to turn back. Three days to think about what he was about to do. Then to top it all off his beloved son had to ask where the sacrifice was to come from. As a father that had to have been a gut wrenching question from your son considering the circumstances. What was Abraham’s answer? “The Lord will provide” (it’s in verse 7, hey I told you to read the whole chapter I can’t do everything here!) What a statement! People this was not some emotion based modern day Holy Spirit moment here. No bands were playing, no people around for Abraham to seek counsel from, just Abraham, his son, the promise and God. Abraham believed God! How could this be? How could anyone have that kind of faith? The same reason that I can type these words to you. Because HE KNEW WHO GOD WAS, and no other reason. What does that mean, well everything to be honest, but I will try to keep this simple. Simply stated Abraham was in this for who God is not what He can do. You’re probably wondering what the difference is. Let’s say that you knew that a certain doctor can save your son from and incurable disease, because he had done it before. Would you care what his name was or what he was like. Frankly would you care anything about the doctor or would you run to him so that your son could be saved. Well, of course you would have the doctor save your son as I would for any of my daughters. That is a crude example but the truth is everyone (yes even you Mr. Atheist!) knows intellectually what a Holy God is capable of and would love the results He can give, but not all those people love the God over the results. Therein lies the difference between Abraham’s saving faith and the mirage of faith that some have and that I used to have. Who wouldn’t want God’s salvation, but when you realize that He wants your submission people turn away. (By the way, all will turn away no one would get saved without the original prompting of the Holy Spirit; you don’t desire God He desires you. That being said when the Holy Spirit does His work it will produce a repentant and submissive heart. Just thought it was important to add that little disclaimer on salvation.) Some of you are reading this and not understanding that Knowing God and eternity with Him is more important than the earthly results He can give. Some of you may not be saved (if that is you repenting now would be prudent!) and some of you may just not understand that yet. That’s ok I am just beginning to understand and will probably look back on this entry years from now and see how little I know now, but therein is the beauty of knowing God, the journey never ends. Abraham had learned the attributes of this God he serves and the knowledge of those truths made everything else insignificant. Even just one of them if fully understood can be enough to sustain you, He is that great! Abraham knew that God was sovereign, He was not a liar, that He was loving, and many more and if we know these things as well we will be changed forever and permanently. When you stop expecting the results that you want from Him God becomes the God of your life and not a genie. My point is that no amount of human effort could ever produce the kind of faith that Abraham exhibited as a matter of fact nothing at all from a human perspective could ever be the power source for that faith. That leads me to some unmistakable conclusions. Number one if that faith is God originated and Abraham (a regular guy) received and grabbed a hold of it then it is available. Number two since I can’t attain it, that faith is therefore supernatural thus making it eternal and permanent, and lastly if God calls us to seek Him through His word that means that this Bible we read is God and therefore containing the power available to sustain that faith. There is no expectation of results just God and how much you get to know Him.
I am not writing this because I am a “super saint” because I am not. I am just like you weak, frail, sinful and undeserving of His grace. I am not being overly humble to overstate anything, I believe that I am at my core all of those things. If it were not for supernatural grace that caused me to be a different person I would still be sinful. At that admission lays my last point and the only thing that you do in this process. All that you do is acknowledge your total human depravity and realize that you are not worthy of Him, that’s salvation and it will produce obedience over time as God gets rid of all of you and shows you Him. You cannot receive the gift of salvation spoken about in Ephesians 2:8-9 if you don’t think you need it. This brings me to my last point. Knowing Him is predicated on the realization that you don’t want to know your sinfulness anymore. Moreover when your self reliance and talents, coupled with your desires still lead to nothing and you cry out for a God knowing you don’t deserve him to answer. Then and only then are you in the frame of mind to know Him. Salvation is an act and gift of God and is permanent; however the realization of all that it means takes time. I am not trying to show you a miserable life in Christ, far from it. I am more grateful now then I ever was when I had more things of this world. I am also not saying that I have taken a vow of poverty, because I haven’t. (Although some days I think I have and don’t know it!) What I am driving at is your motivations for why you do the things you do. The world may not care, but God does. If you heart is where the Lord wants it then you have the rest talked about in Matthew chapter 11(I am not telling you which verses just read the whole thing it won’t kill you trust me!) and life is beautiful. So I would like to encourage those that might be a little taken aback by these statements. Sanctification is a beautiful process and God will finish his work so hang in there your Abraham faith lesson is coming and if you stay obedient you will be ready, God bless.
1And it came to pass after these things that God did tempt Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham: and he said, Behold, here I am.
2And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of.
3And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and saddled his ass, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son, and clave the wood for the burnt offering, and rose up, and went unto the place of which God had told him.
4Then on the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes, and saw the place afar off.
5And Abraham said unto his young men, Abide ye here with the ass; and I and the lad will go yonder and worship, and come again to you.
First of all I have only given you the first five verses and I invite you to read the rest of this chapter on your own. I will try to show to the best of my ability how amazing this story really is and how this is a call to faith for myself and every believer. The backdrop of this story is that Abraham has been residing in the land of the Philistines for a long time (it’s not clear to me how long that time was), after making a covenant with Abimelech. It is also worth noting that Abraham was not always the faithful man that we see here, the Lord had to create that in him. Although he did belief the Lord when it came to the promise that God would give his barren wife a natural son, he definitely had his missteps (chapter 20 he lied to Abimelech and told him that Sarah was his sister and not his wife because of fear for his own life.) I wanted to bring up that Abraham had been in the land of the Philistines for a long time to bring up the point that the Lord was taking that time to prepare Abraham for his lesson in faith that only God knew was coming. Not all that dissimilar to the last six years which have occurred in my life, were preparation for my particular faith lesson that I am going through. I think it’s important to grasp the humanity of Abraham with all his sin and disobedience so that we do not get caught in the trap of thinking that these huge steps of faith are reserved for “super saints” in the Bible. Yes Abraham was declared by God to have favor in the sight of God, but that is more about who God is; not who Abraham is. We need to realize that the faith that Abraham is showing us originated from the Lord and therefore is exactly what He is calling every believer into, not just the “super saints!” How did Abraham become willing to sacrifice his own son for the Lord? I know some people don’t want to get caught up in the details of this story because on the surface it seems so horrendous to think about, but let me give you a little different perspective. I want you to get the full picture here. Abraham was called out by God many years before this event happened. God promised Abraham that his barren wife would give birth to his seed (they were both about 100 I think, not completely sure but I know that number is close.) Moreover that son (Isaac) was to be the seed of God’s chosen people and would bless all the nations of the earth, including us gentile believers that have been grafted into that Jewish lineage as joint heirs to the throne. I don’t even think Abraham knew what God’s promise really meant, I know I could not have conceived of how much that promise actually meant. I’m still not sure I do, not this side of heaven anyway. Now here we are years later after the birth of Ishmael by his maidservant Hagar (clearly not what God had in mind), travelling through foreign lands and he still hasn’t seen the land to house this nation God has promised. Isaac has finally arrived and Abraham must think “Wow here we go; now things are starting to move!” Instead he ends up living with the Philistines, that’s right he is still not in his land! Finally Isaac has grown up and now God intervenes dramatically in Abraham’s life. Personally, I would have thought that the Lord was going to give clear concise three day directions to the land where his people will reside! Here comes the promise, I bet Abraham was excited to hear from the Lord! Well you just read what the Lord said. What would you have thought, I know I would have been distraught. There’s no doubt in my mind that Abraham’s human emotions were all tied up in knots. They had to be, faith or no faith this was his son, the promise, Isaac represented Abraham’s whole life. Isaac was everything God had promised and this is what God asks of him? I want to stop here and talk about how faith is not tied to emotional experiences. I would be a liar if I didn’t tell you that there have been some moments of fear and anxiety even as I write these words to you regarding my little situation. I have no doubt that Abraham felt the same way, after all Abraham was not God he was one of us frail unknowing humans. It’s not about what you feel that shows your faith it’s what you do. What did Abraham do? Verse 3 says that he “rose up early in the morning”. Early in the morning, are you serious! Most of us wouldn’t even do it let alone do it without delay! Let’s bring up one more point that the scripture tells us. The journey took three days. Abraham had three days to turn back. Three days to think about what he was about to do. Then to top it all off his beloved son had to ask where the sacrifice was to come from. As a father that had to have been a gut wrenching question from your son considering the circumstances. What was Abraham’s answer? “The Lord will provide” (it’s in verse 7, hey I told you to read the whole chapter I can’t do everything here!) What a statement! People this was not some emotion based modern day Holy Spirit moment here. No bands were playing, no people around for Abraham to seek counsel from, just Abraham, his son, the promise and God. Abraham believed God! How could this be? How could anyone have that kind of faith? The same reason that I can type these words to you. Because HE KNEW WHO GOD WAS, and no other reason. What does that mean, well everything to be honest, but I will try to keep this simple. Simply stated Abraham was in this for who God is not what He can do. You’re probably wondering what the difference is. Let’s say that you knew that a certain doctor can save your son from and incurable disease, because he had done it before. Would you care what his name was or what he was like. Frankly would you care anything about the doctor or would you run to him so that your son could be saved. Well, of course you would have the doctor save your son as I would for any of my daughters. That is a crude example but the truth is everyone (yes even you Mr. Atheist!) knows intellectually what a Holy God is capable of and would love the results He can give, but not all those people love the God over the results. Therein lies the difference between Abraham’s saving faith and the mirage of faith that some have and that I used to have. Who wouldn’t want God’s salvation, but when you realize that He wants your submission people turn away. (By the way, all will turn away no one would get saved without the original prompting of the Holy Spirit; you don’t desire God He desires you. That being said when the Holy Spirit does His work it will produce a repentant and submissive heart. Just thought it was important to add that little disclaimer on salvation.) Some of you are reading this and not understanding that Knowing God and eternity with Him is more important than the earthly results He can give. Some of you may not be saved (if that is you repenting now would be prudent!) and some of you may just not understand that yet. That’s ok I am just beginning to understand and will probably look back on this entry years from now and see how little I know now, but therein is the beauty of knowing God, the journey never ends. Abraham had learned the attributes of this God he serves and the knowledge of those truths made everything else insignificant. Even just one of them if fully understood can be enough to sustain you, He is that great! Abraham knew that God was sovereign, He was not a liar, that He was loving, and many more and if we know these things as well we will be changed forever and permanently. When you stop expecting the results that you want from Him God becomes the God of your life and not a genie. My point is that no amount of human effort could ever produce the kind of faith that Abraham exhibited as a matter of fact nothing at all from a human perspective could ever be the power source for that faith. That leads me to some unmistakable conclusions. Number one if that faith is God originated and Abraham (a regular guy) received and grabbed a hold of it then it is available. Number two since I can’t attain it, that faith is therefore supernatural thus making it eternal and permanent, and lastly if God calls us to seek Him through His word that means that this Bible we read is God and therefore containing the power available to sustain that faith. There is no expectation of results just God and how much you get to know Him.
I am not writing this because I am a “super saint” because I am not. I am just like you weak, frail, sinful and undeserving of His grace. I am not being overly humble to overstate anything, I believe that I am at my core all of those things. If it were not for supernatural grace that caused me to be a different person I would still be sinful. At that admission lays my last point and the only thing that you do in this process. All that you do is acknowledge your total human depravity and realize that you are not worthy of Him, that’s salvation and it will produce obedience over time as God gets rid of all of you and shows you Him. You cannot receive the gift of salvation spoken about in Ephesians 2:8-9 if you don’t think you need it. This brings me to my last point. Knowing Him is predicated on the realization that you don’t want to know your sinfulness anymore. Moreover when your self reliance and talents, coupled with your desires still lead to nothing and you cry out for a God knowing you don’t deserve him to answer. Then and only then are you in the frame of mind to know Him. Salvation is an act and gift of God and is permanent; however the realization of all that it means takes time. I am not trying to show you a miserable life in Christ, far from it. I am more grateful now then I ever was when I had more things of this world. I am also not saying that I have taken a vow of poverty, because I haven’t. (Although some days I think I have and don’t know it!) What I am driving at is your motivations for why you do the things you do. The world may not care, but God does. If you heart is where the Lord wants it then you have the rest talked about in Matthew chapter 11(I am not telling you which verses just read the whole thing it won’t kill you trust me!) and life is beautiful. So I would like to encourage those that might be a little taken aback by these statements. Sanctification is a beautiful process and God will finish his work so hang in there your Abraham faith lesson is coming and if you stay obedient you will be ready, God bless.
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
35 and I am a Grumpy Old Man
The above phrase is what I said to my wife today. She responded by saying that I have always been that way! (Wow and I thought this would be some sort of revelation to her, I guess not!) This subject was spurred on as I applied for a job online and I was getting frustrated, as usual, so my wife came in to help me through. It’s not so much that I cannot figure out how to do things online it’s that I just hate it! As a matter of fact my wife set up the blog. All I do is write! I realize that we still don’t have a flat screen TV, I have never downloaded a song or ringtone, I called my wife’s MP3 player “the music playing thing” yesterday, in general I pretty much dislike technology or at least I thought I did. Then I was reminded of a little article I wrote about 3 months ago and it illuminated what was really going on. It’s not so much that I hate technology, because technology after all is allowing me to write to anyone who wants to listen. I’m just “grumpy” because I think that the technology that is supposed to bring us together is actually creating more distance when it comes to things that really matter. You should know that I am going to tie this to the Bible in some way, so here we go! As Jesus was giving up his spirit on the cross for the sins of the world the scripture says that the veil in the temple had torn down the middle displaying the Holy of Holies in the Jewish temple for all to see. (Mathew 27:50-51) That miraculous event was to symbolize and show vividly what Christ had just done. Jesus Christ is now our High Priest and we can now access God directly through Him anytime and anywhere. All of this is very similar to our modern technology, but do we use this freedom to know more about the Lord or is it a distraction and on some levels a hindrance. My point is that the more comfortable and accessible things seem to be whether it be access to Christ or access to people via cell phones, the more it seems we have distance when it comes to meaningful intercourse. When the Lord gives us the desires of our sinful hearts it seems we turn away from him. This technology is not therefore sinful, but it illuminates our sinful condition. It seems like the only times in human history when people cry out to the Lord is when everything is difficult not easy or convenient. With that being the backdrop I hope you enjoy my musings and you are going to find out a little about me personally as well, thank you and God bless!
Reflections on Disconnections
Seeing the country is something a lot of people wish they could do. I was blessed to have the opportunity to see a lot of the United States. Going to the Grand Canyon in Flagstaff Arizona, living in Southern California and spending time at the Pacific Ocean, seeing a lot of professional sporting events across the country, and even meeting all of the Detroit Pistons as a young boy. Surprisingly, I have only vague memories of a lot of what would seem to be memorable moments. One in particular that stands out was what should have been one of the most memorable moments of my young life. On January 1, 1987 my father managed to get tickets to the 1987 Rose Bowl between Michigan and Arizona State. I was and still am (despite being a North Carolina State University alumni) a huge Michigan football fan. Being able to be in California and just see the Rose Bowl stadium in Pasadena, California is something a lot of Midwestern Big Ten fans would have loved to experience. I was privileged enough to attend the actual Rose Bowl game. Unfortunately, Michigan lost to Arizona State that day, (not uncommon for Michigan at Rose Bowl appearances during this time). I would love to tell you about some of the smells, people I met, and bring up old photographs. Maybe even bore you to death with a photo gallery of this and all other sites and sounds of the United States, but I have none of these things. I couldn’t even tell you the score of that game or speak about a person I met in any of my travels.
At this point in my life I could not remember any details at all, to be honest. The same goes for the trip to the Florida Keys, my first time in the ocean, and motorcycle rides through Florida and Texas respectively. I could go on and on with seemingly memorable and adventurous tales that span the gap between age 12 to age 30. I could fill these pages with facts about places I have been, but what I missed out on is what was important in each and every experience.
One of my favorite movies was the movie “Good Will Hunting” The movie starred Robin Williams who played a therapist from South Boston who was supposed to get through to a South Boston kid played by Matt Damon who was brilliant, but yet very fearful and troubled due to past sin played out in his life. Coupled with experiencing tragedy, that a young boy should not have had to see, young Will was cocky on the outside and dying on the inside. In one particular scene Robin Williams was telling him about love and how he met his wife, because he chose to stay and try to talk to who would later become his wife rather than go to game six of the Red Sox Cardinals series. (I think I would have went to the game!) He went on to explain how he never regretted missing that World Series game, and how he didn’t regret staying in the hospital day after day as his wife was dying of cancer. Countless examples were given by Robin Williams of how well he and his wife knew each other. He even included all the imperfections that each had, exclaiming to young Will that those things were not “imperfections but rather the good stuff.” Young Will had no such experiences in life. He could only quote some Shakespeare or relate a story that he read in a book or poetic sonnet, but he knew nothing of love. Will never had dare to love anyone more then himself. Robin Williams talked about a series of experiences and each time he would tell young Will that he probably had a smart answer from a book he read or story he heard, but he was never a part of any of it. Will never invested his life in others and he had missed the opportunity to experience life.
I was just like Will in the movie, I was full of stories, smart answers and funny jokes, but none of it was real. I should have countless memories of people I met and sounds and smells that I cannot forget, but I don’t. It was as if I was a computer regurgitating facts to prove that I had a memory of something I saw or places I went. I was existing and surviving, but by no means alive in any real way. Only those that are alive can smell, taste, and share these things we go through in life with others. I spent the first 30 years of my life merely existing, surviving and wondering why there was so much pain. I was self sufficient, self reliant, and in short just selfish. These things are attributes and even celebrated in our upside down world, but they are contrary to the work of the Lord and block Him from providing life and life abundantly.
All of this has gone through my mind repeatedly. Today, for reason I do not know I am somehow acutely aware of my own shortcomings. I was also evaluating the technologically connected world that we live in. I thought that as some level the two could be related. In the palm of my hand I have the ability to connect with almost every member of the world. I can even write a letter to the President of the United States right now on my telephone. (Although this phone can’t make him read it!) So why are people living so disconnected to the family members that live in their own home. We are emailing and texting everyone all over the world but will not cross the street to talk to our neighbor. We talk on the phone with friends about family problems but will not knock on our own children’s door and practice what we preach. Maybe I am not the only person suffering from surviving over living. It seems as if the side effect of technology is a lack of attachment. I have seen two people in a car or walking down the street together and talking on the phone with someone else as if the person they are with is not there. It happened today; as a matter of fact: the visual pictures of people that I observed today provided the material for these thoughts.
The ability to travel and see different types of people in my own life did not lead to greater connection with others. The opportunities that I have been afforded by my circumstances and through the advances technologically brought me around more people. However that did not automatically mean that real communication occurred with those people. Much like the ability to communicate twenty four seven with anyone does not necessarily mean that you will. Maybe my circumstances are unique in my life or maybe others have some of the same problems I do. I am not here to rail against the horrors of our modern society. I am just taking this opportunity to share some of my experiences and the observance of others. It could not hurt to stop and ponder these things from time to time, don’t you think? Our modern society gives us the ability to cross the country in a matter of hours and experience many great sights and sounds. Sadly it seems all we gather from this are pictures taken on our phone and a few post cards. Why do we miss out on all of the different people we can meet along the way? Maybe there are others like me that were too consumed with there own life. It could however be that the convenience has kept us from experiencing life. I have been guilty of both. How about you?
At this point in my life I could not remember any details at all, to be honest. The same goes for the trip to the Florida Keys, my first time in the ocean, and motorcycle rides through Florida and Texas respectively. I could go on and on with seemingly memorable and adventurous tales that span the gap between age 12 to age 30. I could fill these pages with facts about places I have been, but what I missed out on is what was important in each and every experience.
One of my favorite movies was the movie “Good Will Hunting” The movie starred Robin Williams who played a therapist from South Boston who was supposed to get through to a South Boston kid played by Matt Damon who was brilliant, but yet very fearful and troubled due to past sin played out in his life. Coupled with experiencing tragedy, that a young boy should not have had to see, young Will was cocky on the outside and dying on the inside. In one particular scene Robin Williams was telling him about love and how he met his wife, because he chose to stay and try to talk to who would later become his wife rather than go to game six of the Red Sox Cardinals series. (I think I would have went to the game!) He went on to explain how he never regretted missing that World Series game, and how he didn’t regret staying in the hospital day after day as his wife was dying of cancer. Countless examples were given by Robin Williams of how well he and his wife knew each other. He even included all the imperfections that each had, exclaiming to young Will that those things were not “imperfections but rather the good stuff.” Young Will had no such experiences in life. He could only quote some Shakespeare or relate a story that he read in a book or poetic sonnet, but he knew nothing of love. Will never had dare to love anyone more then himself. Robin Williams talked about a series of experiences and each time he would tell young Will that he probably had a smart answer from a book he read or story he heard, but he was never a part of any of it. Will never invested his life in others and he had missed the opportunity to experience life.
I was just like Will in the movie, I was full of stories, smart answers and funny jokes, but none of it was real. I should have countless memories of people I met and sounds and smells that I cannot forget, but I don’t. It was as if I was a computer regurgitating facts to prove that I had a memory of something I saw or places I went. I was existing and surviving, but by no means alive in any real way. Only those that are alive can smell, taste, and share these things we go through in life with others. I spent the first 30 years of my life merely existing, surviving and wondering why there was so much pain. I was self sufficient, self reliant, and in short just selfish. These things are attributes and even celebrated in our upside down world, but they are contrary to the work of the Lord and block Him from providing life and life abundantly.
All of this has gone through my mind repeatedly. Today, for reason I do not know I am somehow acutely aware of my own shortcomings. I was also evaluating the technologically connected world that we live in. I thought that as some level the two could be related. In the palm of my hand I have the ability to connect with almost every member of the world. I can even write a letter to the President of the United States right now on my telephone. (Although this phone can’t make him read it!) So why are people living so disconnected to the family members that live in their own home. We are emailing and texting everyone all over the world but will not cross the street to talk to our neighbor. We talk on the phone with friends about family problems but will not knock on our own children’s door and practice what we preach. Maybe I am not the only person suffering from surviving over living. It seems as if the side effect of technology is a lack of attachment. I have seen two people in a car or walking down the street together and talking on the phone with someone else as if the person they are with is not there. It happened today; as a matter of fact: the visual pictures of people that I observed today provided the material for these thoughts.
The ability to travel and see different types of people in my own life did not lead to greater connection with others. The opportunities that I have been afforded by my circumstances and through the advances technologically brought me around more people. However that did not automatically mean that real communication occurred with those people. Much like the ability to communicate twenty four seven with anyone does not necessarily mean that you will. Maybe my circumstances are unique in my life or maybe others have some of the same problems I do. I am not here to rail against the horrors of our modern society. I am just taking this opportunity to share some of my experiences and the observance of others. It could not hurt to stop and ponder these things from time to time, don’t you think? Our modern society gives us the ability to cross the country in a matter of hours and experience many great sights and sounds. Sadly it seems all we gather from this are pictures taken on our phone and a few post cards. Why do we miss out on all of the different people we can meet along the way? Maybe there are others like me that were too consumed with there own life. It could however be that the convenience has kept us from experiencing life. I have been guilty of both. How about you?
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